It is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated games to be released on this generation of console, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II has finally arrived on XBOX consoles and PC, the fruit of work of a little over 5 years of development from the Ninja Theory studio based in Cambridge. Founded in 2000 and very quickly noticed for having accompanied the release of the Playstation 3 with Heavenly Sword, one of its first exclusives, it was with the reboot of the Devil May Cry franchise and the episode DmC: Devil May Cry released in 2010 that the studio will acquire a certain reputation. Continuing to cut his teeth on various projects such as Disney’s Infinity franchise, in 2017 Hellblade Senua’s Sacrifice was released on Playstation 4 and PC before being ported over the following two years to XBOX and Nintendo Switch consoles. Awarded and nominated numerous times for its qualities, the game managed to push the limits of an independent studio in terms of production values and final result. Announced after the acquisition of the studio by Microsoft, the continuation of the story of the warrior Senua carried for more than 5 years the technical hopes of a generation of consoles which are struggling to convince specialists. Ninth game from a modest studio, but now experienced and benefiting from the support of the American giant, what is ultimately worth the most anticipated title of the XBOX Series consoles and the PC? Does it demonstrate the full potential of the new Unreal Engine 5? We’ve been waiting for a long time to get our hands on an XBOX exclusive and we’ll tell you everything after finishing it!
Our show on Senua’s Saga Hellblade II
The direct sequel to 2017
Mixing dark fantasy with Celtic and Nordic culture, the first game set in 875 AD offered the player the opportunity to focus on the story of a young warrior named Senua who was heading towards Helheim. In one of these worlds of Norse mythology, she had to save her deceased loved one from Dillion, in a single-player narrative game tinged with action.
Armed with her sword, it was guided by the visual and auditory hallucinations that she suffered that the studio managed at the same time to deal with the subject of psychosis thanks to intelligent staging.
Direct sequel to the first opus, Hellblade II offers for those absent from 2017 a five-minute recap at the start of the game just to catch up a little. Determined to take revenge on those who decimated her village, the Pictish warrior will allow herself to be captured by the Icelanders and succeed in extricating herself from her slave condition after the shipwreck in which she was held.
Stranded on enemy lands, Senua will find herself on the trail of the giants whose island she will free in a packed adventure lasting around 6 to 7 hours.
Narrative like its predecessor and very verbose, we would have liked the title to benefit from financial support from Microsoft for complete localization in the language of Molière and for other European countries.
Unfortunately, we will have to settle for an excellent VOST which allows us to appreciate the excellent lip synchronization work but we still largely lose immersion.
A constant slap in the face!
Developed by a workforce of nearly 200 people, this sequel to HellBlade is an indie AAA or rather a III that keeps all its promises. Heralded as the most beautiful game in the world on consoles today, Senua’s Saga Hellblade II delivers slap after slap throughout the experience.
First of all visual, the slap is above all the prerogative of superb natural environments enhanced by meticulous lighting work and choice of colors. Produced using photogrammetry which allows for faithful scanning while perfectly reproducing the textures, the rock very present whether in the caves or on the surface of Iceland could not be more realistic. The colors of the fire and the lava are not left out but it is nothing compared to the rendering of the weather effects, notably the rain storms and the wind effects on the clothes.
Visually, we are facing the most accomplished game in the world from a technical point of view and when we focus on the modeling of faces, it is objectively jaw-dropping. Finally that’s it, we’ve gone beyond what was done at Naughty Dog or Quantic Dream. As is often said, everything happens in the eyes of the characters but here it is not only the eye but also in the micro movements of the entire face. The jaws and mouths that tense and relax will amaze the most observant! We dare say it, it’s never been seen on consoles!
Like another game set in Norse mythology that we have already talked about together, namely God Of War and its sequel Ragnarok, the title shot in sequence holds up perfectly. It runs at 30fps in a format with black bands, a bit like The Evil Within did in its time.
Magnificent on Series
Our previous video game shows
A very limited playful aspect
Is it enough to have impeccable plastic to provide pleasure? It all depends on which side the player is on. In our case, this Hellblade II still lacked quite a bit for us to have a pleasant time beyond the visual amazement.
If it is possible to go through the adventure with three different difficulties for the fights, the title remains far too short and not varied enough to convince.
We are completely faced with this basic narrative style of game which will only ask the player to push the stick forward and carry out a few fights to advance the progress. Only with the sword, they only offer the prospect of performing a weak blow, a strong blow, a dodge and a perfect parry. If your mirror is sufficiently charged thanks to your previous assaults, you can make your task easier by triggering your power which slows down time and allows you to largely gain the upper hand over your opponent.
Let this be said between us, even if the feeling is good, you almost never die in Hellblade II if you are able to know how to manage three or four character actions. The clashes are only one against one. You will never be overwhelmed or overwhelmed! The developers have kept it as simple as possible and it’s still quite disappointing because after the discovery, the tension of the battles drops like a bellows!
To slightly extend the lifespan linked to the character’s journey, Senua will have to solve two types of puzzles, namely finding visions of glyphs in the decor or even finding balls of stones to place on a stele. There will sometimes be a few small variations with a setting that needs to be transformed several times or a few passages that need to be lit, but that’s all that Ninja Theory has in store for us!
Furthermore, and given that the title is completely devoid of HUD, it is the voices which accompany Senua which will spoil you or spoil the little work that there is to do!
For a sequel which benefited from the support of the manufacturer, we have the right to be disappointed, even for a narrative game. There are tons of contrary examples developed by smaller teams, even if we recognize that they are not technical slaps like Hellblade II.
The problem with the title developed at Cambridge is that it is as beautiful as it is boring…
An ambiance
Very cinematic, the game is obviously to be played entirely with headphones to benefit from the binaural work (the distinct sounds in each ear) which has been carried out and we cannot recommend enough to be in full VO to avoid displaying too much numerous subtitles (normal, it’s constantly talking) which breaks the immersion a little.
Overall, the title offers relatively little background music which could have given additional character to the visual wonder. However, the studio knows how to do it because it is relatively good when it is present and especially extremely well used when it accompanies the clashes against the giants. She fully follows the action, especially when it is necessary to free one of her chains. You will see !
Overall interest
Hellblade II is a one-day game to play almost in one go if you have the chance. If it fits perfectly with the spirit of the “small experiences” sought by Microsoft for its XBOX Game Pass, it is a compact title, without a skill tree, ultimately not very repetitive given its short lifespan but which in Revenge has no replayability except if you want to know the story from the other narrators’ point of view.
All this can explain that the game only exists in a digital version, a certain lack of communication from the publisher, but its very non-general public aspect absolutely does not guarantee the survival of a talented studio given the context in which it has been evolving for several weeks.
Other productions aiming at the same objectives but much more friendly have paid the price and for our part, even if the technical gap is obvious, we will surely remember them more than this Hellblade II.
To know
► Release: 05/21/2024
► Platforms: XBOX Series, PC
► Genre: Narrative
► Publisher: XBOX Game Studios
► Developer: Ninja Theory
► Age: +18
WE love
► The visual slap
► The intensity of the fights
► The soundscape
We regret
► Short lifespan
► A VF is missing
► Very limited gameplay
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